About

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Joao M. Souto-Maior
Postdoctoral associate
New York University
CV

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Welcome to my website!

I am a postdoctoral associate (effective in August, 2023) in the Institute of Human Development and Social Change at the New York University. I am on the 2023-24 job market.

In my research, I rely on innovative methodological approaches—such as qualitatively informed agent-based models and machine learning techniques—to re-examine “old” questions in education research. Doing so, I hope to improve the quality of evidence on questions of great relevance to education policy and practice. In particular, I concentrate on questions related to the organizational decisions of educational institutions and how they impact unequal educational opportunities across race and class lines.

In my dissertation (advised by L’Heureux Lewis-McCoy and with support from NYU’s agent-based modeling lab), I designed qualitatively-informed agent-based models to address questions concerning the emergence of educational inequalities—defined as access to advanced coursework—between Black and White students who attend the same school. I investigated the role of racial composition on Black students’ educational opportunities and explored how educational opportunities are hoarded within schools.

As a postdoctoral researcher, I work with Rachel Fish (NYU) and Kenneth Shores (University of Delaware) investigating methodological issues concerning the existing quantitative evidence on the disproportionate representation of Black students in special education programs.

Please navigate across the pages to learn about my research; teaching; and to access selected resources.

Areas of Research

Organizations
Education policy
Racial inequality
Computational methods

Education

Ph.D. Sociology of Education, New York University. 2023.
M.Phil. Sociology of Education, New York University. 2021.
B.A. Economics with mathematical emphasis, University of Wisconsin-Madison. 2017.

Note

For research/publication purposes, I hyphenate my last name: Souto-Maior.

Research

Research agenda

In my research, I rely on innovative methodological approaches to re-examining “old” questions in education research. Doing so, I hope to improve the quality of evidence on some of the key questions to education policy and practice. In particular, I concentrate on questions related to the organization of educational institutions, looking at how organizational decisions impact the formation of racial and socioeconomic inequalities in education opportunity. This work is defined by two main areas of research, detailed below.

Bringing insights from complex systems to school organization research

Rethinking the analysis of bias in student sorting processes

Papers under review

The presence of White students and the emergence of Black-White within-school inequalities: two interaction-based mechanisms.
Joao Souto-Maior (2023). arXiv preprint.
pdf

Adjusting for academic preparedness when estimating enrollment disparities in advanced high school coursework
Joao Souto-Maior & Ravi Shroff (2022). arXiv preprint.
pdf

Hoarding without hoarders: unpacking the emergence of opportunity hoarding within schools
Joao Souto-Maior (2023). arXiv preprint.
pdf

Papers in progress

The salience of mechanisms shaping within-school racial inequalities across school- and district-level characteristics
Joao Souto-Maior.

Determinants of race- and class-based educational inequalities within Brazilian high schools
Joao Souto-Maior.

Stepping out of the closet and into engagement: a quantitative analysis of outness, GSA engagement, and classroom engagement
Hank Sherwood, Joao Souto-Maior, Paul Poteat, Hirokazu Yoshikawa, Jerel Calzo.
code

Teaching

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Laboratory instructor

Undergraduate basic statistics
New York University — from Spring 2019 to Spring 2021
notes syllabus S-21

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Teaching assistant

Introduction to US education: historical and contemporary perspectives
New York University — Fall 2022
syllabus F-22

Political economy of education: why does college cost so much?
New York University — Fall 2022
syllabus F-22

Qualitative methods in international education
New York University — Spring 2022
syllabus S-22

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Seminar leader

URS seminar: research, creative work and the public good
University of Wisconsin-Madison — 2016-17
syllabus F-16 syllabus S-17

URS seminar: research and creative work at the boundaries
University of Wisconsin-Madison — 2015-16
syllabus F-15 syllabus S-16

Resources

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PhD study

PhD dissertation
Essays on the dynamics of Black-White advanced course-taking inequalities

PhD coursework
Areas of concentration: school organization; quantitative methods.
Course list

Comprehensive oral exam
Reading list

Independent study: Black-White within-school achievement gaps
Reading list

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Tools for interactive visualizations

A dashboard of inequality in Sao Paulo high schools
Dashboard

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New books network (NBN) podcast

Host of new books in education
My Episodes

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